5 Tips On How To Green Your Kitchen

After reading many articles on how to "green," one's home, I decided to try it out, taking one room at a time, starting with the kitchen. I found that many of these greening techniques were fairly easy to implement and made a lot of sense. So try them out and let me know how it goes!
1. Reduce use of plastic water bottles:
After reading so much about how wasteful plastic water bottles are, I invested in a Brita water filter system, which I had had before but not used recently. This enables me to use water from the tap and pour it out of the Brita, which eliminates many of the contaminants. I have also noticed that several bottling companies have switched to glass, so I'm currently exploring this option as well.
2. Reuse, recycle, and donate plastic bags:
Between farmers's markets, the supermarket, the drugstore, and just about every kind of store, I end up coming home with as many as a dozen plastic bags a day. Of course, on the days I remember to bring a reusable bag to the store, this does not happen, but let's face it, occasionally, we all forget. So I always reuse the bags, as liners for the bathroom garbage, as food protectors for vegetables and fruits, and to help organize coupons and other papers in my purse that I need to set aside. I have also noticed that in my town, the local thrift shop, regular supermarket, and Trader Joes, all collect and resuse the plastic bags, so I have a place to take them when they begin to swallow up my storage drawers.
3. Use eco-friendly dish detergent for the sink and dishwashing machine, and other ecofriendly or homemade cleansers throughout the kitchen:
There are many great brands of eco cleansers out there, that contain none of the harsh ingredients that can cause breathing problems, not to mention a host of other health problems. Many of them cost the same as traditional brands, and last a long time. I also like using natural ingredients such as baking soda and lemon to scrub butcher block, kitchen counters, and sinks.
4. Reuse sponges: Old sponges have great multiple uses. I have found them useful to place into flowers pots, for example, to make creative floral arrangements and help with the placement of stems. They are also a good place to store thumbtacks and keep a ready supply without accidentally prickling your fingers.
5. Limit dishwasher use and replace paper towels with cloths or real towels: I only run the dishwasher when it's full, and I use the Water Saver mode which cuts down on water usage. I cut down on paper towels by keeping a real towel in the kitchen for cleaning spills and wiping counters, or using organic cloths. After a few days, I add them to the laundry. This has saved me at least one roll a week!
Got any other tips? Share them here....

Whole Foods to End Plastic Bag Use by Earth Day

According to yesterday's article on sustainablebusiness.com, Whole Foods will discontinue offering plastic bags at checkout effective this Earth Day. The first U.S. supermarket to commit to completely eliminating disposable plastic grocery bags, Whole Foods Market declared January 22 "Bring Your Own Bag Day" and distributed over 50,000 reusable shopping bags to customers at the checkouts to celebrate the announcement. A.C. Gallo, co-president and chief operating officer for Whole Foods Market, said "More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don't break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides. Together with our shoppers, our gift to the planet this Earth Day will be reducing our environmental impact as we estimate we will keep 100 million new plastic grocery bags out of our environment between Earth Day and the end of this year alone."

We have noticed that many supermarkets like Trader Joe's offer incentive to encourage customers to bring their own bags, such as drawings for grocery certificates. Whole Foods offers customers now a 5-10 cent refund at the checkout, but they would be well advised to offer similar promotions and contests for customers. Do you bring your own reusable bags, and how to you remind yourself each time you go shopping? Is your supermarket sustainable? We have been doing our part all this year by keeping extra shopping bags in the back of the car, and then we are "green to go." Happy green shopping!

Note: we recently read about the largest Whole Foods to open in New York City, in the Bowery, and plan on visiting next time we're in the city. The stores features an eco-friendly refrigerating system, recycled building materials, energy efficient lighting, and electricity purchased with wind energy credits. (There are also discounts on coffee if you bring your own mug and pies when you bring back the plates for the made-from-scratch pies.) At 71,000 square feet, you shouldn't have to worry about anyone bumping into your shopping cart.